Food and Wine Names 2010 Winemaker of the Year - Thomas Rivers Brown

What is there to say other than well deserved congratulation go to Thomas Rivers Brown! Anyone who reads our blog on a regular basis knows how much we love the wines of "TRB," and this is an absolute honor that is well deserved, as Thomas was named Food and Wine's Winemaker of the Year!
Over the years, we have been following Thomas through many different ventures, and new projects. Some of our favorite wines that Thomas has his hands in include Maybach and Rivers-Marie, which are two of our must buy wines every year! Maybach is his high end cabernet sauvignon, that is absolutely amazing, and will continue to age for 10-20 years and beyond. We started purchasing Maybach with the '05 vintage, and we have enjoyed this wine on several occasions by ourselves, and with friends as well. In my opinion, they even warrant the $100+ price tag!

Our other favorite from Thomas Rivers Brown, is Rivers-Marie. This label was started by Thomas and his wife Genevieve Marie Welsh, and they produce pinot noir, chardonnay, and cabernet sauvignon. They do two offerings a year, with the cabernet being offered in the fall, and the pinot noir being offered in the spring. We actually just placed our order for a half a case of the 2008 cabernet, and we've bought all that we have been offered from their Spring offering for the last 3 years. We started buying these wines with the '06 vintage, and every bottle we open reminds us why we love their wines!

Aside from these two labels, Thomas has some other amazing ventures as well. He has his hands in 15 different projects, and these include Schrader Cellars and Outpost Estate, and these labels speak for themselves. He also has his hands in Two Hands Charlie's Patch, which is another Napa Valley project from the Aussie based winery. Aside from these, he also makes the wine for Michael Chiarello of the Food Network, at Chiarello Vineyards. I can say that the zinfandel he is making there is absolutely amazing, and quite possibly one of my favorite zins, not that we drink enough of it. But Thomas definitely knows zinfandel as his first job out of college was working for zin producer Turley under the hand of Ehran Jordan.

Other labels he has his hands in include Nicholson Ranch, Seaver Vineyards (baseball great Tom Seaver), Diamond Terrace, Policy Vineyards (former 49ers general manager), Bisou Wines, and Tamber Bey. Needless to say, he has an incredible resume, and keeps himself extremely busy! But he is going to get even busier yet as from the looks in the news, he is also now a vineyard owner as well! Stay tuned for that post next! Cheers! -F. Scott